Overview
- Official tallies record more than 1,100 small‑boat arrivals over a recent four‑day stretch, pushing the year‑to‑date total past 10,000.
- Smuggling networks have shifted launch points and used ‘taxi boats’ and overloaded dinghies to exploit the calm weather that makes crossings easier.
- The UK has agreed a multi‑year funding package of roughly £660 million for French beach patrols and specialist units that are now deployed along the coast.
- French policing faces legal limits at sea and rights complaints after filmed incidents, and those constraints have left some departures unchecked despite increased patrols.
- Humanitarian teams report infants and children aboard dangerously overloaded craft, prompting rescues and raising the prospect of further strain on search‑and‑rescue and local services.